Developing A Universal Religion/Revelations And Conversions/Revelations

As mentioned in section four of the last chapter, leaders of any significance are invariably people who have thought long and hard about existing conditions and how matters might be improved. Some leaders only slowly realize they have a workable solution to offer and then act. They might write articles and books, as did Karl Marx. Others (in particular most everyday leaders) appear to decide and act without spending any appreciable time thinking about what to do. This is usually because they have already experienced (or have earlier spent time working through) alternative possibilities, and they come to the role armed with several appropriate solutions, primed and ready for different contingencies.

However, sometimes individuals recognize in one blinding flash that they actually have the solution. In such cases, they are often said to have had a “revelation.” Such occurrences do not happen very often and only occur to those whose mind has been dwelling upon an apparently insurmountable problem for a considerable amount of time. For such individuals, there is an instant of recognition, when the truth is suddenly revealed. This has often been described (see next section for some documented examples) as being accompanied by misty patterns of light,[1] and the whole experience is marked by a plethora of intensely strong and pleasurable emotions: surprise, wonder, elation, euphoria, and sometimes a feeling of being united with the universe. These emotions erupt the instant it is realized, with unequivocal certainty, that the definitive, long-sought, solution-to-a-critically-important-problem has been found. Accompanying feelings of pure joy sometimes continue for weeks.

Revelations that produce this effect need not always follow a search for meaning, or be the result of a religious mental struggle. Many scientists and artists have reported identical feelings to those mentioned above. These experiences occur, for them, the instant they realize they have found the answer to a problem long worked upon. Their emotions, just as the emotions of those experiencing a religious conversion, gush forth the moment their mind replaces many of its old and disjointed constructs with one that is more appropriate and functional. The “eureka” solution transforms disorder into order, doubt into certainty, complexity into simplicity, and stress into delight.

Those who have experienced a revelation of any kind, are often forced by their new Construct to become leaders, devoted to communicating to others the truth that has been revealed to them.